DRAGOMEIR SERIES – Creature Features – “Pieces of Eight”
Pieces of Eight – Technically, they are genetically altered, Class Eight Demons. They appear in “The Emerald Dragon,” and were responsible for bringing the first of the Aguiva dragons. What the Dark Lord was looking for was a demon with the strength of a Class Eight, but with a much smaller overall size. These demons stand about six feet tall, weigh in at about two hundred pounds, and on the Provinces are considered tiny. The size factor was adhered to because of the Aguiva dragons. It takes a human sized person to fly one of the War Birds. Anything larger and the Aguiva wouldn’t be able to lift the weight.
The look and feel of the Pieces of Eight is very similar to their counterparts, the standard Class Eight Demon, just smaller with less pronounced facial features. They generally have dark brown hair and eyes. They are strong, fast, and fiercely protective of their War Birds. The demon pictured below is an artist’s rendition of Caleb, complete with his flight suit. Caleb flies the Aguiva dragon named Seven. There are one hundred and seventy- five demons within the ranks of the Pieces of Eight. Other intriguing creatures to come! If you have any thoughts or comments, please let me know and I will be happy to get back to you. You can also follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads; or for more information, check out my Books, The Omnicon store, and More on the website –
How to Build Better Books – Awesome Site!
Tired of hunting for information?
If you want to find out how to do just about anything pertaining to writing, publishing and marketing books, this is one of the most comprehensive websites I have found yet. It is run by Joel Friedlander, and there are links to information you may not even have thought you would need. I have found it to be incredibly helpful in so many areas and thought I would pass it along. Definitely check it out. You’ll be glad you did!
Here is the link –
DRAGOMEIR SERIES – Creature Features – “The Chosen”
This time with Creature Features I thought we’d take a look at The Chosen. They appear in “The Emerald Dragon,” and play a rather prominent role in the total scheme of things. When Tanis asked The Chosen who they were, he got back a somewhat cryptic answer. They told him, “We are called the Chosen and what we are . . . is cursed. We are the descendants of the last ruling class from the city of Tadmur. ” An unusual beginning for an unusual people.
The Chosen are the descendents of an ancient race of people that originated from the city of Tadmur, which was located in the country known as Syria. Syria is a country in Western Asia basically bordered by Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea on the West, Turkey on the North, Iraq on the East, and Jordan on the South. Hundreds of years ago, the Capitol city of Syria, Tadmur, was abandoned due to several reasons, the greatest being an environmental one. Jeremy, the top General of The Chosen, said it was a flooding issue, but there was also an impending war that Syria couldn’t win. The ruling class made it out, but sadly they were about the only ones who did. The ruling class became nomadic and the next hundred years were not kind to them. It was about that time that the first of them contracted Porphyria, and even though they took precautions thinking it was probably airborne, it didn’t do any good. Before they knew what hit them, it was widespread. They believed it was punishment for them abandoning the city, but it was too late to do anything that could potentially regain that loss. They believed themselves to be doomed. To keep it from spreading, they stayed away from any known populace and within a short period of time they were all but forgotten.
Porphyria has several different strains, but all of them are caused by genetic abnormalities and chemically bound to the production of Heme. Heme is a vital molecule found in the liver, bone marrow and most importantly, the blood. In the end they cannot produce plasma or red blood cells, and if not treated, it can be fatal. Other symptoms that are prevalent include pale skin, extended canine teeth, pronounced cranial hair growth and the utter loss of pigmentation. Hence, they have very thick, platinum blond hair and pale blue eyes. The things that don’t show directly are enhanced strength and hyper abilities, such as augmented speed. The muscle tissue over time becomes dense, which makes it more difficult to be harmed by impacts of all sorts. The down side is that they have also become disastrously light sensitive, to the point of rapid burns if out in the sunlight. In short, the Vampire legends were true. Below is the Hollywood version, and then the “Emerald Dragon” version of The Chosen.
Book Two of the Dragomeir Series, “Flight of the Aguiva,” Update!
Greetings Everyone!
It’s true, “The Emerald Dragon” is finished and available everywhere, but the story is just getting started. Book Two of the Dragomeir Series is fast approaching the finish line, and hopefully, will be out around the first of next year. It is entitled, “Flight of the Aguiva,” and is the continuing saga of Tanis, the rider to the Emerald Dragon, Demios. A new species of dragon will be introduced, as well as the addition of a breed of Saber Tooth Tiger.
More battles, more discoveries, and the return of some extremely colorful characters from “The Emerald Dragon,” are just some of the exciting twists and turns coming out of Mt. Drago.”
I hope you will follow the search for the second of the Crystal Keys and help the Dragons save the day again.
Solitaire . . .
Who is Warren Murphy?
Warren Murphy has written movies and books with sales of 50 million copies. He has won a dozen national awards including two Edgars from the Mystery Writers of America.
“He has served as a mentor and teacher to a whole generation of crime and thriller writers.”
For all you mystery writers out there, check out his Online Writing Class where you can learn how to go about writing a mystery novel. He shares his expertise in a series of lessons. Here’s the link –
DRAGOMEIR SERIES – Weapons of War
The number one weapon talked about, hated and loved in “The Emerald Dragon” has got to be the Projector. It comes in a variety of sizes, but the most feared has got to be the Projector Station. It can hit and injure a dragon in the air at several thousand feet. Its travel through the air is silent and swift. Unlike some of the other weapons used by Queen Mother’s troops, the Projector is low tech and easy to manufacture, although somewhat difficult to move to remote areas.
Pictured below is an example of the dreaded Projector Station.
The Projector Station is very similar to its distant cousin, the hand held Projector. They both fire bolts, just of radically different sizes. The amount of pressure is adjustable up to but not to exceed, the tinsel strength of the tangs and the bow ropes. The bolt travel is close to the speed of a bullet and the barbed point of the bolt makes it difficult to remove.
The Projector itself is aimed by a metal hoop that extends from top to bottom at the back of the mechanism. The operator places one foot at the bottom and both hands at the top to swivel and vertically aim the device. The base is generally affixed to the ground by a series of stakes driven deep into the ground. The bolts are three inches in diameter and up to four feet in length.
Here is an example of the kind of Projector Bolt used by the demons on the Provinces of Hell.
The barb at the tip of the bolt varies in design, depending on use. The bolt pictured has an open faced barb. It is much simpler to remove but allows blood to flow more freely after penetration. Stay posted for future information on Weapons of War!
DRAGOMEIR SERIES – Creature Features!
I have been asked by several people if I could give some insight into the creatures living in Mt. Drago. So I thought we’d start with the Hellhounds. Now for those who have not yet read “The Emerald Dragon,” the Hellhounds were helped by Queen Mother to make a mass exodus from the Provinces of Hell to Mt. Drago.
There, they took up shop in an area of the mountain called Tarin’s Gallery. The Hellhounds are a genetically altered species that started off with a considerable amount of Pit Bull in the heritage. No one is really sure what else besides wolf went into the mixture, but what we do know is that they went after size and stamina. The full grown males of this species top over three hundred pounds, stand about five feet tall and can run for days. They are predominately brown in color with brown eyes. They sport an opposing thumb and forefinger and have sparse uneven hair over their bodies, which are brown in color.
What the Dark Lords didn’t expect was in part the unknown factor mentioned previously, and what they got was a species on the fast track to sentience. Ten generations later they were no longer the trusted pet dog. Through sheer will and a lot of death and destruction they managed to escape to another of the Provinces, where they would be almost impossible to defeat.
By the eleventh generation they were not only intelligent, but self aware and very unhappy with the Dark Lords. That’s where Queen Mother entered the picture and gave them an opportunity they couldn’t ignore.
The Hellhounds of today are drastically different than the ones written about in history. The ones in Mt. Drago would rather not fight; they are vegetarians and prefer to stay in one place to rear their children. They are deeply spiritual and have a great sense of humor. To find out more about these creatures you can read the first book of the Dragomeir Series, “The Emerald Dragon,” or leave me a comment and I will be happy to answer any questions!
The Vaping Saga – Episode 5
In my last episode I stated that on the next installment I would show my latest toy and get into Ohm’s law.
Okay, the only missing ingredient is power, and by that I mean a higher wattage. The minute you start manipulating ohm’s law, you need more power. The SVD device I had been using is an amazing machine, but you can only go down to 1.2 ohms. The law states that to calculate the needed voltage you take the ohms and multiply it by itself, so if your ohms rating was 1.8, then you would multiply it times 1.8. That gives you 3.24 volts. To calculate wattage simply multiply 3.24 times two, which then gives you 6.48. First problem . . . The taste factor says the ohm should be lower. The lower the ohm, the better the taste. Second problem . . . Any device that can fire with a lower ohm rating is only regulated above four volts. And if that wasn’t enough, the power needs to be incrementally higher as you drop down the ohms. The way to get the volts high enough is to raise the wattage, but the device I was using doesn’t go that high. Thus enters the picture . . . The Hana DNA30. With a whopping 30 watts of power and the ability to fire down to .3 ohms, it now seems possible to have your cake and eat it too. Pictured below is my new toy.
Armed with the Hana and my Kayfun/Patriot I can produce enough power to keep the volts over four by adjusting the watts as high as thirty. The taste is amazing, and all of this without the need for an analog cigarette. I’m currently down to 2 mgs of nicotine and my goal continues to be nicotine free. As Rip Trippers would say, ”Smoking is dead . . . Vaping is the future and the future is now.” Well said, Rip.
The Vaping Saga – Episode 4
Okay, here we are again, and on the verge of a full understanding of why the vaping experience tends to come up short on satisfaction.
When you first get into vaping, there’s a quiet unspoken assumption that the result of what we’re doing is the way it’s supposed to be. Oh contraire. . .If you had never eaten a steak and were to some degree unsure of what it was, then when you finally took a bite you have to go with what it tastes like right then and there. But what if the steak you were attempting to eat was made out of Styrofoam. You would think that all steak was supposed to taste like that, simply because you didn’t have anything else to compare it with. Right? Steak’s no big deal and it tastes like…well nothing really. Now do that for years, until one day some nice person gives you a medium rare T Bone steak that would melt in your mouth. That would rewrite the whole steak experience.
Now imagine taking a vape on a device that will actually deliver the flavor that was engineered into the E-Cig. There are over one thousand flavors available on the open market and instead of receiving a fraction of the flavor, you get the whole burrito. The soft drink flavors actually taste like they’re carbonated. There are some that were created to be heat sensitive, so they taste like one flavor on the inhale and another on the exhale.
In the vaping world, there is no substitute for superior hardware, but moreover, there is none for excellent wetware. Shown below is the company that makes my favorite e-liquid. The company is called Dekang and they make a full line of flavors.
To start your search for a better e-liquid, I would suggest this location –
http://www.ecig-vapo.com/dekang-e-liquid-silver-label-10ml-c-6_7_58.html
Understand, this website is only one of many that carry this line of fine products.
On my next installment I’ll show my latest acquisition, and get into the best way to manipulate Ohm’s Law.
Solitaire Parke - Sci-Fi/Fantasy Books 
